THE BEAST AWAKENS
Finally, the Beast of the Green Hell has made its way onto Malaysian shores, and driving out of its enclosure is the Mercedes-AMG GT R
MERCEDES-BENZ HAS always affirmed that the three most powerful letters in their vocabulary are AMG. So it is only fitting that the fastest road car in their current line-up come with three letters as well, GT R. And thankfully, for all you speed demons out there, the C190 MercedesAMG GT R is currently available in the country. You just have to be ready to fork out about MYR1.7 million for this beast of the green hell.
Now, the reason that the car is called the ‘Beast of the Green Hell’ is that it cut its teeth on a track nicknamed the green hell - the Nurburgring Nordschleife. This impossible racetrack combines around 172 corners with all possible slopes and ascents, in a nearly 23km distance, snaking through the woods of the Eifel mountains. It was on this track that the car was developed by Mercedes-AMG and assisted by Formula 1 driver Lewis Hamilton. Both Hamilton and the Mercedes-AMG racing team have won their sixth Formula 1 championship trophy (driver’s and constructor’s respectively) so between them, surely they know a thing or two about building fast cars.
Just looking at this beauty is enough to get the heart racing, but when combined with the roar of the engine when it starts and the growl of it when it idles, the GT R is a car that is near impossible to resist. The heart of the beast is the (M187)AMG 4.0-litre V8 turbo engine. It packs in 585 horsepower and 700nm of torque, and when it is matted onto an AMG SPEEDSHIFT DCT 7-speed dual-clutch transmission, it sends all the power to the rear wheels so that the GT R sprints from 0 to 100km/h in just 3.6 seconds. Furthermore, it has a top speed of 318km/h.
The engine is indeed the biggest indicator of how fast a race-car goes, but how well it performs depends on how all the other components of the car work together. The designers and engineers at Mercedes-AMG left no stone unturned when it came to seeking out the very best driving experience available with the GT R. The low-slung front section and the shark nose-like radiator grille lowers the vehicles’ back-pressure point, enhancing the flow of cooling air and the car’s aerodynamic performance. They employed the AIRPANEL active air management system that uses louvres to control and balance between aerodynamics and the cooling of heat exchangers.
Even the suspension of the AMG GT R was designed for racetrack use. Wishbones, steering knuckles and hub carriers on the front and rear axle are manufactured entirely out of forged aluminium which in a racecar help to reduce weight while being strong enough to withstand the pressures of driving at breakneck speeds.
Additionally, there is an AMG Dynamics system that uses the available sensors that detect the speed, the steering angle or the yaw rate of the car and anticipates the vehicle behaviour based on this information and the action of the driver. In some way, the control system reacts before the driver and because it has no noticeable intervention of the system, the driver gets a very authentic driving feel with high cornering dynamics and optimum traction as well as high stability and predictable handling. Even experienced drivers receive optimum assistance without feeling patronised by the system.
However, even with all the innovations for driving fast, The AMG GT R is still a road car and will spend most of its time on public roads. Therefore, Mercedes-AMG has decided to fit the car with a fully digital instrument display, combining the 12.3-inch instrument cluster behind the steering wheel and the 10.25-inch multimedia display on the centre console. While the steering wheel on the
AMG GT R is completely covered with a luxurious DINAMICA microfiber material.
And did we mention, there is also a parking package that includes the PARKTRONIC park assistant and the reverse camera.
For the more hardcore drivers of the GT R, an AMG Track package will include a rollover protection system, enclosed 4-point safety harnesses for the driver, and a 2-kg fire extinguisher. However for those who are intimidated by the GT R, there is a GT C variant in the same family, that will offer slightly less performance, at a slightly lower price tag.